BOARD SEEKS TO DROP CONDO PERMIT

Gov. Bob Graham and the state Cabinet will be asked next month to give regional water managers an opportunity to revoke a drainage permit for a proposed 209-unit condominium project inside Lake Okeechobee.

The South Florida Water Management District governing board enthusiastically agreed Friday to seek an opportunity to revoke the permit it reluctantly had issued in January.

"I want to support a motion to revoke this permit," said board member Nathaniel Reed.

The board originally wanted to deny the application but could find no legally defensible grounds to reject the plans to squeeze the condominiums on 5.1 acres owned by J-Mark Fish Camp on Torry Island in Belle Glade.

The island is inside the lake's protective dike and is home to two fish camps and a city-owned campground and marina.

"It doesn't make sense from a water resources perspective," board chairman Stanley Hole said of the project.

However, the Florida Audubon Society appealed the district's decision, which throws the issue to Graham and the Cabinet for review. In preparing for the appeal hearing, district staff discovered apparent flaws in the city's zoning of the land that might be grounds for revoking the January decision.

But attorneys for the district and the land owners Friday could not determine the actual zoning status of the land. After public discussion and back-room negotiations, the attorneys for the two sides agreed to ask the governor and Cabinet to delay their consideration while the zoning questions were answered.

An attorney for Florida Audubon, however, rejected the delay. Agreement among all parties is required to postpone a cabinet-level hearing of an administrative appeal, officials said.

Hole said the board wants the Cabinet to send the permit back to the district for the sole purpose of revocation.

Irene Quincey, an attorney for the district, said district rules require all local zoning approvals be finalized before a permit application can be brought to the nine-member district board. It appears the condominium plan has at least one more zoning approval from the City Commission before it is finalized, officials added.

While there appears little doubt that the commission supports the plan and intends to grant final approvals, the district contends it is not eligible for a permit until the last vote is taken.

The district's control over the development is believed to be limited by an earlier lawsuit in which the agency tried to condemn and buy the property. The district did not appeal the case when it lost and was ordered not to interfere with the owner's use of the property.

In issuing the permit in January, the board accepted Hole's recommendation to include a clause prohibiting the owners from starting construction for six months. Later that month, Graham was briefed by district officials and agreed to support a plan to find an avenue for the state to buy the land.

Among the district's concerns was a public safety question. The massive dikes that surround the 714-square-mile lake were built after hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 created freshwater tidal waves and wiped out lakeside communities.

District officials also said they felt residential development inside the dike was inconsistent with the lake's role as South Florida's primary reservoir.